Matthias Sperling

This is it (2011)

Created for Candoco Dance Company's Vicky Malin, Matthias Sperling's This is it was commissioned for the company's 20th anniversary season and is the first solo commission in the company's history. The work toys playfully with our expectations of a solo contemporary dance performer and features Vicky's live performance of her specially-written, iTunes-released, uplifting euro-pop single This is it.

"The invitation to create a solo for the first time in Candoco's 20 year history immediately sparked a curiosity about how the power of the individual could be a choreographic subject. What, after all, is the individual or self? What if the boundaries of it are mobile rather than fixed? And what if we have the ability to move those boundaries through a constant process of negotiation and exchange with one another? If mind and body are the same physical entity, then isn't this ongoing evolution of self ultimately a complex series of physical acts? What if all of me is only dancing when I am moving not just my muscles and bones, but also the boundaries of my self?" Matthias Sperling

Concept and Direction: Matthias Sperling

Choreography: Matthias Sperling in collaboration with Vicky Malin

Dancer: Vicky Malin

Costume Designer: Jack Galloway

Costume Maker: Sabrina Cuniberto

Lighting Designer: Sam Barrett

Song: lyrics and melody by Matthias Sperling, instrumental music and production by Scanner, vocals performed by Vicky Malin – Available on iTunes